Starch ing-machine



(No Model.) 2 SheetsShet 1. C. F. STONE.

STARUHINGMAGHINE'. No. 492,311. Patented Feb. 21, 1893.

fiiarmeys STATEs PATENT OFFICE.

CHARLES F. STONE, OF CHICAGO, ILLINOIS.

STARCHING-MACHINE.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 492,311, dated February21, 1893.

Application filed February 15, 1892. Serial No. 421,598. (No model.)

To aZZ whom it may concern.-

Be it known that I, CHARLES F. STONE, of Chicago, in the county of Cookand State of Illinois, have invented certain new and useful Improvementsin Starching-lVIachines; and I do hereby declare the following to be afull, clear, and exact description of the same, reference being had tothe accompanying drawings, forming a part of this specification, and tothe letters of reference marked thereon.

This invention relates to that class of laundry machinery adapted toperform the operation of starching as a preliminary to the ironing andpolishing processes, and has for its object to provide a machine of thischaracter which shall be effective and at the same time extremelysimple, requiring little skill and power to run it.

The invention consists in certain novel details of construction andcombinations and arrangements of parts all as will be now described andpointed out particularly in the appended claims.

Referring to the accompanying drawings: Figure 1 is a side elevation ofa machine embodying my present invention. Fig. 2 is an elevation of therollers and bed. Fig. 3 is a front elevation. Fig. 4 is a detailperspective of the elastic starch pad. Fig. 5 is an enlarged detailshowing the action of the rubber pad and roll.

Like letters of reference in the several figures indicate the sameparts.

A indicates the main frame, the construction of which is immaterial, butfor thenpurposes of the present illustration it is shown rectangular andprovided with bearings for the power shaft B and counter shaft C Thepower shaft may be driven in any suitable manner preferably, however,bymeans of belts running in opposite directions on the loose pulleys b andadapted to be shifted to the central fast pulley b whereby the powershaft may be reversed at will. The two shafts are connected by gearingof approved character, such as c to move the counter shaft relativelyslow and with greater power, and on the counter shaft within the frameis mounted a driving roller or pair of driving rollers D adapted tocontact with the under side of the starching bed to move the same. Apair of driving rollers is preferably employed to balance the pressure,although it is obvious that one will operate the bed without the other.

The starching bed is formed by an are shaped bed or plate E mounted on acentral standard 6 carried by a second plate Elying parallel to theplate E. This starching bed is supported on the upper end of a standardF pivoted near the bottom of the frame, its pivotal point constitutingthe center upon which the arcs of the starching bed are struck.

In operation the lower face of the bed is adapted to rest upon the driveroller, hence as said roller is rotated first in one direction and thenin theother the bed is reciprocated, but in order to permit it to bethrown out of operation without stopping the drive mechanism, the bed isgiven a range of movement which carries it just beyond the roller at itsforward extreme of movement (Fig. 1), hence as long as it is in thisposition it is stationary and the operator seated in front of themachine may remove or adjust the article to be starched and by a veryslight backward movement of the bed throw it into operation. Should itbe desired to keep the bed in motion the operator simply pressesslightly upon it as it approaches the end of its forward movement andprevents it from passing out of operative engagement with the roller.

Above the starching bed, is journaled the starching roller H, preferablyheld in adjustable spring-pressed bearings h whereby it is caused tobear on the starching bed with a yielding pressure and at the same timethe pressure may be changed as desired. The starching roller, has itssurface finely corrugated, the corrugations running at an angle to theaxis of the roll and preferably taking the form of a fine spiral orscrew thread, thus, as the roll is loose in its bearings its momentumcauses it to move a short distance after the bed has moved away frombeneath it, and the position of the corrugations is thus varied withrelation to the bed and the whole surface of the bed or article thereonis evenly acted upon, a result not attainable should the roll and bedremain in contact all the while.

In order to cause a perfect penetration and thorough working of thestarch through the goods the starching bed is provided with an elasticor rubber surface or pad M having a series of corrugations or recesses,preferably corresponding approximately in cross sectional shape to thoseon the roll but arranged to intersect the same when brought beneath theroll. In the preferred construction the corrugations or recesses on thepad run parallel with the axis of the roller and at each side the pad isprovided with raised margins m preferably somewhat higher than the ribs,to close the ends of the" depressions, thus when the roll travels overthe pad, it will be seen that the ribs on the padare pressed down as inFig. 5, and the starch lying in the recesses between said ribs finds itsonly escape, up through the goods into the transverse groovein the roll.Each rib on the pad is successively compressed throughout its entirelength, the ends of the roll passing over onto the raised margins andcompletely closing each depression against the lateral escape of thestarch.

It is obvious that the shirt or other article to be starched may be heldin place in any desired manner and that the starch maybe fed to themachine by hand or by any of the automatic devices now employed.

The operation of the machine is simple. Assuming that the powerconnections have been made as before described, the operator seated orstanding in front of the machine spreads the shirt or other articleouton the bed, which has been previously charged with starch, then givesthe bed a slight backward movement. At this moment the power mechanismacts and carries the bed beneath the starching roller returning it againto the front of the machine where it is preferable to allow it to passbeyond the starchingroller to permit the latter to rotate a shortdistance independently and thereby change the track followed by thecorrugations whereby two passages beneath the roll will coverpractically the whole surface. When the starch is thoroughly worked in,the shirt or article is removed, more starch is fed to the bed and theoperations are repeated.

Having thus described my invention, what I claim as new is 1. In astarching machine,the combination with the drive roller, and thestarching rollercorrugated at an angle to its plane of rotationjournaled looselyin its bearings and arranged above the same, of thestarching bed working between said rollers and having a range ofmovement beyond both of the same, whereby the relative position of thecorrugations of the rod on the bed is changed and the bed is thrown outof operative position; substantially as described.

2. In a starching machine, the combination with the starchin g rollerhaving a spirally corrugated surface, of the reciprocating starching bedhaving a range of movement beyond the roller, whereby the relativeposition of the corrugations and bed is changed; substantially asdescribed.

3. In a starching machine, the combination with the corrugated starchingroller, of a corrugated starching bed having the corrugations running atan angle to the corrugations in the roller; said roller and bed having abodily reciprocation with relation to each other substantially asdescribed.

4. In a starching machine, the combination with the corrugated starchingroller, of an elastic corrugated starching bed having the corrugationsrunning at an angle to the corrugations in the roller said roller andbed having a bodily reciprocation with relation to each other;substantially as described.

5. In a starching machine, the combination with the starching rollhaving surface corrugations running at an angle to its axis, of anelastic starching bed having surface corrugations parallel with the axisof the roller; substantially as described.

6. In a starching machine, the combination with the corrugated starchingroller and bed, of the elastic pad on the bed corrugated transverselyand having the raised margins closing the ends of the corrugations;substantially as described.

CHARLES F. STONE.

Witnesses:

WM. R. GRISWOLD, J12, GEO. E. SWARTZ.

